Hovel

Hovel ; noun
1. a small, very humble dwelling house; a wretched hut.
2. any dirty, disorganized dwelling.

It was sometime during week one of the mission trip that this hovel was discovered. The team passed it by several times, thinking it was a garbage heap; but unfortunately, they came to discover that a mother and her children were living inside this mound of twigs, garbage bags, and cloth scraps. The mother had experienced a miscarriage or a stillborn birth (the translation was cloudy) and there was a lot of blood. The experience had left her unable to cope with life. She looked dazed and confused and her children were dirty and unkempt. When I arrived in Honduras and heard the story, I suspected some spiritual issues as well as medical ones and began to pray. Others from the group did as well. Enter Fred and Cyndi, two of our team members who said WE WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN HONDURAS. They adopted this family and found a small home for the mother and children to move into. They paid one year's rent for them. The woman refused to give up her bed, so Fred and Cyndi carried her bed across town to her new home. They convinced her a new mattress would go a long way toward making that old bed worthwhile. Cyndi wove a rope around the frame to support the mattress and they bought new sheets. Darren from our group made shelves for them to put their things on, as well as a kitchen table. Probably one of the coolest moments of the trip was when one of our young Honduran translators testified about the change in this woman. Carlos said, "In the past, this woman always had a scowl on her face, and if she made eye contact, it was to curse at you. Today, he said, praise God, she is a changed person, smiling and happy." Pastor Mirna from the village put them on the food bank list. There was not a day while there that went by that Fred and Cyndi did not have some positive interaction with this family. At our closing day picnic, all of the families that were assisted were told they were blessed to be a blessing. Each of them who were aided in some way were to find a way to pass it on to others in their village. As the song says, "it only takes a spark to get the fire glowing". I know we were all glowing about the change for this family.